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Jet Collides on Runway in Scottsdale; Musk Leads Offer to Buy OpenAI; Randy Chester is Interviewed about Federal Workers Not Reinstated; Valentine's Day Chocolate Prices Go Up. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired February 11, 2025 - 09:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[09:32:02]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, the NTSB is on the ground in Scottsdale, Arizona, investigating a deadly crash on the runway there. One person was killed, three others injured when a jet, owned by Motley Crue frontman Vince Neil, slammed into another plane.

CNN's Pete Muntean is tracking this one for us. He's joining us now.

And, Pete, what are you learning about this?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, this is the second fatal crash in recent weeks involving an aging Learjet, the first in Philadelphia 11 days ago when that Mexican medical transport flight crashed into a neighborhood shortly after takeoff. Now this crash involving a 36-year-old Lear 35A. Those can be picked up on the used market for about $1 million, but cost a lot to maintain over time, which really raises some questions about the longevity of an aging fleet of these private jets. And maintenance records are something the NTSB always investigates. And the agency has opened a probe into this crash.

The chain of events here really started as this flight was arriving from Austin on Scottsdale's runway two-one. A pretty busy airport, popular for private jets. And we know, according to a statement from the city, that the left landing gear failed on touchdown. The plane apparently veered off the runway, out of control, and into that parked Gulfstream 200 jet.

The flight tracking data from ADS-B exchange shows this plane was going about 65 miles per hour at the time of the collision. So, we're talking highway speed. A lot of force. Four people on board the Learjet. One member of the crew was killed, according to the preliminary report just out from the FAA. Another member of the crew and both passengers seriously injured. And a city spokesperson says all were taken to nearby hospitals.

As you noted, the Learjet, owned by Motley Crue frontman Vince Neil. A representative for the singer says he was not on board at the time of this crash, although investigators really have their work cut out for them. So many incidents we've been covering over the last couple weeks. BOLDUAN: Absolutely. You're absolutely right on that one for sure.

Great to see you, Pete. Thank you so much for bringing us that.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, new this morning, Elon Musk is leading a group of investors in a bid to buy OpenAI, the parent company of ChatGPT. Their offer is nearly $100 billion. Now he's facing opposition from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who is openly hitting back at the bid and hitting back at Musk himself. This is pretty juicy and personal, frankly.

CNN's Matt Egan is here with the latest on this.

Matt.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Yes, John, very personal. I mean, look, this is a blockbuster takeover offer involving two of the biggest players in technology, right? Elon Musk has his own AI ambitions. He's got his own massive AI startup. And listen, Sam Altman, his company is at the cutting edge of the AI revolution. ChatGPT is really what opened everyone's eyes to all of this powerful technology.

So, here are the details on this deal. They're offering $97.4 billion to try to buy OpenAI. This deal is being backed by Baron Capital, xAI, Hollywood powerbroker Ari Emanuel. And it would give - potentially give Musk control of OpenAI.

[09:35:04]

But the backstory here is key, right? Musk actually co-founded OpenAI back in 2015, but he has feuded with Sam Altman ever since then over OpenAI's plans to convert from a nonprofit to a for profit company. It's kind of unthinkable that this would even happen, right? I mean this would be like if my New York Mets offered to buy the New York Yankees, right? It doesn't really add up. Obviously, not something the Yankees would be open to. And I think the - Sam Altman kind of responded the way that the Yankees might respond, right, with a little bit of shade. He tweeted out, "no thank you, but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." So, cleverly moving the decimal point over to the left there.

And, listen, also Altman was on "Bloomberg" this morning and he was asked about the back and forth here. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAM ALTMAN, CEO AND CO-FOUNDER, OPENAI: Look, OpenAI is not for sale. The OpenAI mission (ph) is not for sale. Elon tries all sorts of things for a long time. This is the late - you know, this week's episode.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think Musk's approach then is from a position of insecurity about xAI?

ALTMAN: Probably his whole life is from a position of insecurity. I feel for the guy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You feel for him?

ALTMAN: I do, actually. I don't think he's like a happy person. I do feel for him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: His - his whole life is from a position of insecurity. I feel for the guy. I don't think he's a happy person.

EGAN: Yes. Listen, this battle is heating up. It's getting very personal. As far as what happens with this deal, CNN's Kara Swisher said, unlikely to have a deal here for obvious reasons. But that might not really be the ultimate goal here. Musk could be trying to throw a wrench in some of OpenAI's fundraising efforts. Their effort to convert to a for-profit company. But we've got to stay tuned to this - this story, because it's not going away.

BERMAN: Yes, it's somewhere between trolling and also literally wanting to spike some business interests of OpenAI.

EGAN: Yes, there could be some strategic moves here by Musk.

BERMAN: And so he's got, Elon Musk, some other issues going on with regulators right now?

EGAN: Yes, well, look, he's at the forefront of this effort to essentially gut the CFPB. Remember, that's the watchdog brainchild of Elizabeth Warren. It's going after big banks like Wells Fargo, payday lenders, et cetera. And Musk, last week, he was on X and he sent out a message saying, rest in peace CFPB with a tombstone emoji. And a source told CNN that just hours later, DOGE, which is led by Musk, they went and they deleted CFPB'S X account. They were granted access to CFPB since then - systems. And since then, the acting director of the CFPB has basically told employees at that bureau to stand down from all work, including fighting financial crime, which is literally what they were founded to do here.

Now, what hasn't really gotten as much attention is that Elon Musk has some significant business interests at stake. When he bought Twitter, his goal was to turn it into an everything app, where eventually people could send money to each other, kind of like they do on Venmo. X already has dozens of banking licenses in 41 different states.

But meanwhile, he's waging this war on what is the primary federal financial regulator overseeing the payments business. So, John, ethics experts, consumer watchdogs are telling me that there is a glaring conflict of interest here and that Musk should really recuse himself from anything to do with the CFPB. We've reached out to Musk. Haven't heard back. The White house hasn't commented either. But President Trump did confirm last night that his goal here is, in fact, to eliminate the CFPB.

BERMAN: All right, Matt Egan, great reporting on all this. Thank you.

EGAN: Thanks, John.

BERMAN: Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Fork off. USAID saves lives. This is a message from some of the folks at USAID as President Trump pushed to sideline thousands of U.S. aid workers hits a legal wall. Labor groups are now fighting back. And the federal workers say the administration still hasn't reinstated USAID workers as the judge ordered. We will talk to a member of U.S. aid coming up.

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[09:43:27]

SIDNER: This morning, the future of U.S. aid remains on very shaky ground as the Trump administration is accused of violating a second court order. Federal workers telling a judge that USAID employees who were put on leave have not been reinstated, despite a court order to do just that, to reinstate them.

Joining us now is the vice president of the American Foreign Service Association, Randy Chester.

Randy, we talked earlier as there was a ton of confusion when this - when this rule by Donald Trump and DOGE was first put out telling U.S. aid employees to stay home, the vast majority of them, 10,000 or so. So, the question to you this morning is, do you know of any USAID employees who has been told to stay home, whether or not they are back at work now?

RANDY CHESTER, VICE PRESIDENT, AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE ASSOCIATION: So, we're all staying home. We are still under a stay-at-home order to telework. And we still are receiving reports from foreign service officers that have not had their access to systems restored. And some officers are reporting that despite having their email access restored, they still don't have access to critical accounting software systems, contract management accounting software systems and voucher repayment systems.

So, while some, most, majority of us, do have access to emails, a lot of us who require - who rely on other systems don't have access to those critical systems to do our work.

SIDNER: So, it sounds like some of the critical systems that you mentioned there are literally how you get funds to places to do the work that you are charged with doing.

[09:45:03]

In your estimation, is Donald Trump in DOGE, are they basically just refusing to do what the court has ordered them to do, what the judge has said they must do?

CHESTER: Well, they're doing it slowly. I mean the TRO was issued on Friday, and here we are on Tuesday, and people are still not having full access in order to do their work. And it's not just accounting software. It's also being able to monitor our activities. We're at home. We're at home overseas. So, we can't go out and help our implementing partners through the shutdown process and make sure that everything is being accounted for. The Office of Inspector General released a report yesterday citing the lack of field presence significantly increased the risk for fraud, waste and abuse.

SIDNER: I want to ask you about one part of U.S. aid's service that they provide and the oversight that is there. They have a - you guys have a counterterrorism unit that basically vets who is getting ahold of the monies and of the aid to try to keep it out of the hands of terrorist organizations around the world, as you are in places such as Afghanistan, Yemen. Have any - has anyone been told that this is just over? Like, is anyone working in that realm?

CHESTER: I'm not aware of who's working where right now, but, you know, with the shutdown notice and with people on administrative leave and not having access to systems, being able to vet ongoing activities or vet partners in the future, or even doing, you know, accounting for and auditing partners, that ability is extremely limited. So, we're not necessarily able to be fully accountable to the U.S. taxpayer right now.

SIDNER: Is it a national security threat or a security threat on the ground for some of the aid workers, if some of this money ends up in the wrong hands?

CHESTER: It very well could be for both the workers and for us as a country.

SIDNER: All right, so, the inspector general has released a report, they released it on Friday, saying, nearly a half a billion dollars' worth of food aid may now spoil, be completely wasted following the decision of Donald Trump and Elon Musk's DOGE agency to make cuts to USAID. Is that something that you are aware of? And - and in that case, why is this food being left to spoil?

CHESTER: Well, it's - it's a critical process. Humanitarian assistance is a - is a months' long process. Orders are put in for food commodities to farmers in the Midwest, and farmers around the United States for tonnage of soybeans, corn and other grain products. Moving that - those commodities takes a significant amount of time. It goes by rail or road to ports where it's put on American flagged carriers and shipped around the world. Stopping or interrupting the supply chain prevents future distribution, delays future distribution. So now all of that food that was in transit has to be warehoused. And during that warehouse process, if proper care isn't taken, then spoilage will happen. And those commodities, those precious goods that are needed overseas, will be lost and the taxpayer will lose upwards of $500 million, like you say.

SIDNER: That is a lot of money.

Randy Chester, thank you again for - for revisiting us. And we will be checking back in with you to see whether or not these court orders are followed and people's jobs are reinstated, they're allowed to go back to work. We will see. Thank you so much. Appreciate your time this morning.

CHESTER: Thank you.

John.

BERMAN: So, this morning, you might want to go with flowers this Valentine's Day because chocolate is getting expensive. I will say, a thoughtful reflection or a poem, though, completely free.

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[09:53:25]

BOLDUAN: Valentine's Day is almost upon us. Can you tell by the giant chocolates behind my head?

BERMAN: It's so distracting. You're looking in the wrong place. Valentine's Day, it's over there. Valentine's Day is over there.

SIDNER: It's - Kate, it's over there, Kate.

BERMAN: Sorry. Sorry.

SIDNER: Wrong - wrong camera.

BOLDUAN: There are lots of cameras.

BERMAN: You got it.

BOLDUAN: And I love all of them.

BERMAN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Get out of my shot.

Let's continue.

Valentine's Day is almost upon us. And as yet another sign of the times, a box of chocolates, sweets for your sweet, is going to cost more. Yep, bringing it down. Cocoa prices are at a record high.

CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich is sadly forced to hang out with us now in tracking this one for us.

What's happening?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: I love a good Valentine's Day segment.

BOLDUAN: Me too.

YURKEVICH: So, listen, the price of chocolate this year is going to be up about 10 to 20 percent. And that is because cocoa beans are more expensive. Cocoa beans make chocolate. And they are up double in 2024.

Just to give you a sense, it's about $4,000 for a metric ton of cocoa beans last year.

BOLDUAN: I'm in the market for that.

YURKEVICH: This year, $10,000.

SIDNER: (INAUDIBLE).

YURKEVICH: Yes. And the reason why is because there's been really tough growing conditions in west Africa, where we get most of our cocoa beans. You either have really dry weather or really wet weather. That is not good. You also have a virus that has been infecting the cocoa trees and manufacturing costs have gone up. Manufacturers, on average, who use cocoa beans to produce chocolate have seen an increase in the last two years of 167 percent. That is a huge jump for them.

And then retailers are saying, they've had to raise prices because of this.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

[09:55:02]

YURKEVICH: You have Lindt chocolate saying it's been a challenging year. They've had to raise prices. They expect the same in 2025. Hershey's chocolate, though, says they buy a year in advance. So, what's on the shelf today is not going to be as expensive as what cocoa prices are trading at. And then you have Mondelez International, which owns Cadbury, Toblerone. They are saying that they are just experiencing unprecedented cocoa inflation.

One way to get around this, you can buy candy with cocoa powder -

SIDNER: No thanks.

YURKEVICH: Not cocoa, at 70 to 100 percent. That's more expensive. So, some cost savings there if you want to read those ingredients.

SIDNER: No.

BOLDUAN: Thank you.

YURKEVICH: I know.

BOLDUAN: You can also have red colored chocolates any day of the week, Sara.

SIDNER: We - we - we don't like - we don't like that color. But it's OK. Just regular.

YURKEVICH: OK.

SIDNER: But I like to say, life is like a box of chocolates, expensive as hell. Isn't that how it goes? I think that's the saying. Forrest Gump. No?

BOLDUAN: I'm not - I'm saying goodbye to the wall, because I don't know what camera I'm on.

BERMAN: Kate's just going to look over here.

Thank you so much for watching us. This has been CNN NEWS CENTRAL. "CNN NEWSROOM" -

BOLDUAN: What did I do to deserve this from you?

SIDNER: You know.

BERMAN: "CNN NEWSROOM," up next.

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